Sunday, November 30, 2008

Below are two covers for Arkham House editions of Lovecraft's work. The artist for these two covers was Lee Brown Coye.

At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft. Arkham House, 1964.

Dagon and other Macabre Tales by H.P. Lovecraft. Arkham House, 1965.

The book below, with a cover by an unknown artist, was distributed through Scholastic Book catalogs given to grade school kids in the 1960's and 1970's. This book served as an introduction to H.P. Lovecraft for many children of that time period.

The Shadow Over Innsmouth, by H.P. Lovecraft. Scholastic Books, 1971.

After we had gotten the above Scholastic book and been freaked out by it in the sixth grade, we went to the local bookstore and probably found one of these volumes with the disturbing covers by John Holmes.

At the Mountains of Madness, by H.P. Lovecraft. Ballantine Books, 1971.

A poorly-rendered, pulpesque zombie graced the cover of this Avon edition:

Cry Horror! by H.P. Lovecraft. Avon Books, 1959.

Not by H.P. Lovecraft, but this volume by Brian Lumley contains tales of the Cthulu Mythos and sports a nice cover by Stephen Fabian.

The Horror at Oakdeene & Others, by Brian Lumley. Arkham House, 1977.

I couldn't resist one more by Lumley. This one features some very early art by Michael Whelan.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Bernie Wrightson has been working professionally as a comic artist and horror and fantasy illustrator since 1968. His first published professional work was for DC Comics' line of horror titles House of Mystery and House of Secrets. Bernie's work for DC also included his classic run on Swamp Thing from 1972 to 1974. He went on to illustrate a classic series of stories for Warren Publishing in their flagship titles Creepy and Eerie. Dark Horse recently republished his classic illustrated version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Below is one of Bernie's first published pieces, a fan club drawing by Bernie published in Creepy #9 (June, 1966)

Before Bernie began working for DC, and in his early days as a comic professional, he often provided drawings for fanzines. These were self-published magazines, put together by comic fans and often published in small quantities. These fanzines gave Bernie and other artists of his generation a chance to hone their craft and keep their work in front of fans. Below is a selection of Bernie's early work from some of these fanzines.

Cover for the 1971 Metro Con program book.

An early rendition of Victor Frankenstein and his monster. From the fanzine Colour Your Dreams published by Capitol City Comix in 1972. The drawing is circa 1968.

Another version of Frankenstein's monster. From Spa Fon #5, published in September 1969.

A sinister drawing of Peter Piper. Published as the back cover of Infinity #3, vol. 2. 1971.